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  To my surprise, though, he came around the back of the Wrangler and scooped me up in his arms before carrying me into the house. I looked up at him, wondering if he’d just lost his mind, and he grinned down at me.

  “Well, I had to carry my new wife over the threshold, didn’t it?”

  “Dork,” I said fondly. “Does anyone even do that anymore?”

  “I just did.” Relenting, he set me down in the hallway just outside the laundry room. “I wanted to make it official.”

  “It is official. We have a piece of paper to prove it and everything.”

  “True, but it doesn’t feel quite real.” He took me by the hand, leading me into the kitchen. Once there, he got out a couple of glasses and poured us some water, then handed one of the tumblers to me. I took it from him and drank gratefully. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was. “And it might not feel real to the rest of the clan.” A pause, and he went on, “You know we’re probably going to have to have a real wedding, just to prove to everyone that we actually are married.”

  Somehow I’d known that might be a possibility. “Okay, but hopefully they’ll let us have a little breathing space to prepare. After everything that’s happened over the past week, I don’t think I can jump right into wedding planning.”

  “Oh, I’m sure they’ll give you a few days.”

  “It had better be more than that.”

  He bent and kissed me then, the feel of his lips against mine so warm, so true, so real that I forgot everything else, except that he was my husband and we truly were meant to be together. No matter what we had to face in the days ahead, it would be all right, because we wouldn’t have to do it alone.

  When he pulled away, he was smiling.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  His warm brown eyes caught mine and held. I looked up at him, thrilling at every line and angle of his face, from the high cheekbones to the ironic lift of his eyebrows to the curves of his mouth. “Just that…I spent most of my life trying to figure out how I could get out of marrying you. Now I am married to you, and all I want is to get married again so I can show everyone how proud I am to say that you’re my wife.”

  Oh, how I loved him. The words didn’t exist to show how happy I was to be here with him, even though I knew this house would never really be mine. Fate had other plans for me, and I realized I was okay with that.

  I tilted my head. “How soon do you think Cat and your father will be expecting us to come over?”

  “I don’t know. An hour, maybe. I didn’t really set a time.”

  “Good,” I said. “Because we were married today, and I want my wedding night…or at least my wedding afternoon.”

  A certain heat entered his eyes. “I think that can be arranged.”

  Before I could react, he’d bent and scooped me up again, was taking me upstairs to the bedroom. We would make love again, this time as husband and wife. And sometime in the not-too-distant future, we’d have a real wedding to make the clan happy…and I realized I was just fine with that as well.

  After all, that meant we would have a second wedding night. We would go live in the big house, and I would throw open the heavy draperies and let the sunlight in, and I would do my best to become prima to this clan that was now my own, in this land that had once been strange to me and was now my home.

  And maybe…just maybe…Isabel Castillo would look down at us and smile, and know that the vision she’d had once upon a time had now come to pass, and all was settled and as it should be, and her clan safe again.

  The End

  The Witches of Canyon Road series continues with A Canyon Road Christmas, followed by Cat’s story in Demon Born, due out in early January 2019.

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  Don’t miss out on any of Christine’s new releases — sign up for her newsletter today!

  Also by Christine Pope

  PROJECT DEMON HUNTERS

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Unquiet Souls

  Unbound Spirits

  Unholy Ground

  THE WITCHES OF CANYON ROAD

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Hidden Gifts

  Darker Paths

  Mysterious Ways

  A Canyon Road Christmas

  Demon Born

  An Ill Wind

  Higher Ground

  THE WITCHES OF CLEOPATRA HILL*

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Darkangel

  Darknight

  Darkmoon

  Sympathetic Magic

  Protector

  Spellbound

  A Cleopatra Hill Christmas

  Impractical Magic

  Strange Magic

  The Arrangement

  Defender

  Bad Blood

  Deep Magic

  Darktide

  Books 1-3 and Books 4-6 of this series are also available in two separate omnibus editions at special boxed set prices. Chronicles of Cleopatra Hill includes the series’ two “back in time” novellas, Bad Blood and The Arrangement.

  Or get the entire series in one enormous, specially priced boxed set! (Not available on Amazon.)

  THE DJINN WARS

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Chosen

  Taken

  Fallen

  Broken

  Forsaken

  Forbidden

  Awoken

  Illuminated

  Stolen

  Forgotten

  Driven

  Unspoken (June 2019)

  Books 1-3 and Books 4-6 of this series are also available in two separate omnibus editions at special boxed set prices!

  THE WATCHERS TRILOGY*

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Falling Dark

  Dead of Night

  Rising Dawn

  The Watchers Trilogy is also available in a specially priced boxed set!

  THE SEDONA FILES*

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Bad Vibrations

  Desert Hearts

  Angel Fire

  Star Crossed

  Falling Angels

  Enemy Mine

  Get the first three books of this series in an omnibus edition, or read the complete six-book series in one super-low-priced boxed set!

  TALES OF THE LATTER KINGDOMS

  (Fantasy Romance)

  All Fall Down

  Dragon Rose

  Binding Spell

  Ashes of Roses

  One Thousand Nights

  Threads of Gold

  The Wolf of Harrow Hall

  Moon Dance

  The Song of the Thrush

  Books 1-3 and Books 4-6 of this series are also available in two separate omnibus editions at special boxed set prices.

  THE GAIAN CONSORTIUM SERIES*

  (Science Fiction Romance)

  Beast (free prequel novella)

  Blood Will Tell

  Breath of Life

  The Gaia Gambit

  The Mandala Maneuver

  The Titan Trap

  The Zhore Deception

  The Refugee Ruse

  Books 1-3 of this series are also available in an omnibus edition at a special boxed set price!

  STANDALONE TITLES

  Hearts on Fire

  Sympathy for the Devil

  Taking Dictation

  Night Music

  Golden Heart

  * Indicates a completed series

  About the Author

  USA Today bestselling author Christine Pope has been writing stories ever since she commandeered her family’s Smith-Corona typewriter back in grade school. Her work includes paranormal romance, fantasy romance, and science fiction/space opera romance. She makes her home in Sedona, Arizona.

  Don’t miss out on any of Christine’s new releases — sign up for her newsletter today!

  * * *

  Christine Pope on the Web:

  www.christinepope.com

  rious Ways